What do the Oakland Raiders and towering redwoods or spectacular waterfalls have in common?

The professional football team is one of the first private businesses to sign on as a partner with a foundation to promote California's state parks. The grandeur of state parks will be noted in different ways during games, and in exchange, the team's familiar logo will grace handout materials given to state park visitors.

It's the start of a beautiful friendship for the California State Parks Foundation, which is trying to create innovative revenue sources for the park system's shrinking budget.

But for some, any collaboration with private business is questionable and could launch the kind of commercial flurry that seems to fill every inch and every moment with advertising -- from the names of stadiums to an officially designated soft drink.

This blog is part of the ongoing work of the American River Parkway Preservation Society to provide public education and advocacy around public policy issues that may be related to the Parkway and the adjacent communities along the American River in Sacramento, California.